Genpact Learns to Adapt to Brazil by Leaning on Local Expertise

Genpact is definitely a global leader when it comes to business process and technology management. But, in Brazil, the company`s strategy is to learn with the Brazilians how to be successful in the local market and the intentions are to start to follow a growing path from now on. “We are a global company with local presence. In Brazil, we knew it was necessary to come up with a Brazilian team that understands the local market very well,” said Affonso Nina, Genpact`s new Brazil`s country manager. “And, with that process, we had to have in mind the word adaptation“. Genpact started operations in Brazil in August 2011. At that time, Tiger Tyagarajan said that the expansion into the country was “in line with our growth strategy to bring our global business practices and expertise to rapidly growing emerging economies, to serve global corporations expanding there as well as local growth companies.” After 10 months acting in the local market, the Brazilian unit of Genpact already has quite impressive projects going on, which are in line with the widely known potential of the company abroad.

With two operation centers located in São Paulo, the economic and financial heart of Brazil (but also its most expensive city), the company provides mostly back office finance and accounting services to the local units of Astra Zeneca, a global biopharmaceutical firm, and General Electric, which are services very closely related to the creation of the company.

Growing Local Business

On another front, Genpact also provides consulting services in different parts of the country to two other multinational companies with operations in Brazil. One of them is a supplier to Nissan, the Japanese automaker, in Curitiba, Paraná; and the other is Anglo Gold Ashanti, one of the biggest gold producers in the world, in Minas Gerais.

“The intention is to grow more and more in both fields, processing services and consulting from now on. The Brazilian market has a strong demand for both,” said Nina, who emphasized that companies from different segments in the country are expanding and demand business process services of different kinds. “And we can do that well.”

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“Since the launch of our operations in August up to now, we have been prospecting the Brazilian market, and have been learning with it. Now, from the second semester on, we are ready to act more aggressively seeking growth, we are ready”, say Nina, a Brazilian who coordinates about 50 employees in the country; he aims to grow that number in the near future. The company does not disclose numbers regarding the operations in the country so far.

BPO Taking Advantage of Country Growth

By the end of 2012, the number of employees working for the American giant might grow considerably. Nina told Sourcing Brazil that the company is already looking for another Brazilian city to launch a third office. It will be taken into consideration, before making the decision of where to go, the access to qualified workforce more than anything else, explains the CEO. The decision to come to São Paulo first was made mostly considering the close contact to clients, which should influence on the new destination as well.

According to Nina, this is a moment in which Brazil is growing considerably, and BPO services naturally can take advantage on that. “It is not like the contact center industry, which is very well established in the country already. We have room to grow.” He reinforced that the strategy implemented since the launch of the operations in the country is mainly to grow with local clients, who can be Brazilian companies or local multinationals. “That is why we need to hire people with local expertise that know the local market well.”

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